this post was submitted on 28 Mar 2024
137 points (97.2% liked)

Canada

7230 readers
719 users here now

What's going on Canada?

Related Communities

🍁 Meta

🗺️ Provinces / Territories

🏙️ Cities / Local Communities

Sorted alphabetically by city name.

🏒 SportsHockey

Football (NFL): incomplete

Football (CFL): incomplete

Baseball

Basketball

Soccer

💻 Schools / Universities

Sorted by province, then by total full-time enrolment.

💵 Finance, Shopping, Sales

🗣️ Politics

🍁 Social / Culture

Rules

Reminder that the rules for lemmy.ca also apply here. See the sidebar on the homepage: lemmy.ca

founded 4 years ago
MODERATORS
otter@lemmy.ca
137
Young people paying 'astronomically living expenses': insolvency trustee (www.bnnbloomberg.ca)
submitted 8 months ago by booja@booja.ca to c/canada@lemmy.ca
61 comments fedilink hide all child comments
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] avidamoeba@lemmy.ca 0 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (1 children)

Not in my experience in the GTA. The cheapest all-inclusive maintenance I'm aware of is in the $600 area and that's for 2-bedroom units in much, much worse building. Larger 3-bedrooms (1200-1500 sq.ft.) in decent buildings cost $800-$1200. Whenever I see cheaper maintenance for such units it typically doesn't include hydro/water. Let alone Internet and cable.

[–] TSG_Asmodeus@lemmy.world 3 points 8 months ago (1 children)

it typically doesn’t include hydro/water. Let alone Internet and cable.

I have literally never lived anywhere that had included utilities. Nowhere I have ever rented in 24 years of renting has done literally any maintenance per month. It's basically "Did you water heater explode?" They always use some family friend they pay 50 bucks to cut a hole in the wall, replace a plastic pipe, and then just screw in a cover over it.

Rather that renting can be significantly cheaper and less risky to your savings in the current market.

I can't tell if you're joking or not.

The value of owner-occupied homes grew by almost 40% between 2016 and 2021.

While both owning and renting come with a cost, those who own their home have been lucky enough to offset those costs by way of a significant increase in the value of their homes. That isn't the case for anyone who rents. Worse still for renters, the average cost of keeping a roof over their head has increased by more than what those who own have experienced. The average cost for shelter among renters grew by 17.6 per cent in the past five years, from $910 a month, on average, in 2016, to $1,070 in 2021.

Get out of here with that 'oh woe is the landlord' garbage.

[–] avidamoeba@lemmy.ca 1 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (1 children)

I don't think you understand what I'm saying and what you cited here doesn't contradict any of what I said. Perhaps I'm not explaining well enough. Back in 2016 I had no doubt that I would be buying if I had the money to.

those who own their home have been lucky enough to offset those costs by way of a significant increase in the value of their homes

That said this part is simply false for people who own just one property - the one they live in. If you own a 1-bedroom condo which went from 400K to 800K between 2016 and 2021 and want to take the difference, you have to sell it. Great, you have 400K extra. Now where would you live? Unless you're moving to a less expensive area or downgrade (to .. a studio?) you have to buy another 1-bedroom condo. Guess what, that also went from 400K to 800K between 2016-2021, so the extra 400K you made is gonna go to cover that. Price appreciation only makes money if you switch to living somewhere cheaper, in smaller property or a cheaper location; or if you buy an additional property that you rent.

Get out of here with that ‘oh woe is the landlord’ garbage.

We're talking about what's better for a person looking to house themselves via renting or buying, not sure what you're going on about.

[–] Someone@lemmy.ca 1 points 8 months ago (1 children)

That said this part is simply false for people who own just one property - the one they live in. If you own a 1-bedroom condo which went from 400K to 800K between 2016 and 2021 and want to take the difference, you have to sell it. Great, you have 400K extra. Now where would you live?

I don't know, but based on your previous comment where you said you'd save about $1700/mo renting you'd be 15 years of savings ahead of the renter.

[–] avidamoeba@lemmy.ca 1 points 8 months ago

My previous comment ($1700/mo) speaks of the status quo today and as I said in other comments it doesn't bet whether the market would go up or down from here. It considers a sideways market.

The scenario where a condo doubles in price between 2016 and 2021 already has embedded in it the buyer winning the bet that the market would go up. I was merely clarifying the point that these savings aren't realized unless the buyer changes accomodations for something cheaper, or as you point out, begins to rent. The article states it as if this money is available to spend when in the vast majority of cases it never becomes available.

Personally I did bet the market would go up back in 2016. If I have to bet today .. I cannot picture how condos that were 400K in 2016, which are 800K today would become 1600K in 2031. We're already at the point where the median household in Toronto has to pay 45% of its gross income to own the median condo, not a house. The median income has to increase significantly to sustain significant further growth in my opinion at this point. At 2% interest, the 45% number goes down to 32%, so lower interest rates are probably gonna pump it a bit higher, however inflation has already eaten up quite a bit of income so I think the effect would be softer than the typical.